WAR IS NEARLY OVER: The approximately 39,000 troops stationed in Iraq will be boarding their final flights out of the country this year, President Obama said yesterday.AP

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WASHINGTON — President Obama announced yesterday that the United States would pull the remaining troops out of Iraq by year’s end, setting up another foreign-policy milestone to crow about just a day after the death of Moammar Khadafy in Libya.

“After nearly nine years, America’s war in Iraq will be over,” Obama told reporters at the White House.

He even got a jump on Macy’s in ringing in the holiday season, saying, “Today, I can say that our troops in Iraq will definitely be home for the holidays.”

The president had hoped to keep a small contingent of US forces in Iraq but failed to secure legal protections for soldiers in talks with Iraqi President Nouri al-Maliki — a fact that drew criticism from Republican hawks.

So the administration is removing the last troops — currently numbering 39,000 — on a timetable established by President George W. Bush in 2008. Obama said he and Maliki were in agreement after holding a teleconference.

Although he stopped far short of proclaiming, “Mission accomplished” — the phrase that haunted his predecessor during the Iraqi insurgency — Obama did trumpet his own foreign-policy successes on a week that saw the violent end of Khadafy’s 42-year rule.

“The tide of war is receding. The drawdown in Iraq allowed us to refocus our fight against al Qaeda and achieve major victories against its leadership — including Osama bin Laden,” the president said.

Nearly 4,500 US soldiers died in the Iraq war, which Obama pledged during his 2008 campaign for the presidency to bring to a conclusion.

“The last American soldier[s] will cross the border out of Iraq with their heads held high, proud of their success and knowing that the American people stand united in our support for our troops,” he said. “That is how America’s military efforts in Iraq will end”

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney slammed Obama, saying his “astonishing failure to secure an orderly transition in Iraq has unnecessarily put at risk the victories that were won through the blood and sacrifice of thousands of American men and women.

“The unavoidable question is whether this decision is the result of a naked political calculation or simply sheer ineptitude in negotiations with the Iraqi government,” Romney continued.

Team Obama quickly shot back, quipping that “Mitt Romney’s foreign-policy experience is limited to his work as a finance executive shipping American jobs overseas.”

Obama said the United States and Iraq would now have a “normal relationship between sovereign nations” and an “equal partnership.”

Administration officials said up to 5,000 security contractors would remain behind to provide security for diplomats and facilities. About 160 soldiers would remain under State Department authority.

President Obama said yesterday the United States will pull the vast majority of its remaining troops out of Iraq by the end of the year, ending more than eight years of military intervention.